Todd-Carriker : Birds of Santa Marta Region, Colombia. 405 



370. Catharus melpomene aurantiirostris (Hartlaub). 



Catharus aurantiirostris Bangs, Proc. Biol. Soc. Washington, XII, 1898, 160 



(Pueblo Viejo), 181 (Palomina). — Allen, Bull. Am. Mus. Nat. Hist., XIII, 



1900, 183 (Bangs' reference). 

 Catharus melpomene aurantiirostris Hellmayr, Journ. f. Orn., L, 1902, 46 



(" Santa Marta "). 

 Catharus melpomene sierra Hellmayr, Verh. Orn. Ges. Bayern, XIV, 1919, 



126 (La Concepcion ; orig. descr. ; type in coll. Munich Mus.; crit.). 



Additional records: San Francisco (Brown). 



Seventeen specimens: Cincinnati, Pueblo Viejo, and Chirua. 



This series agree well with another (fifty specimens) from northern 

 Venezuela, whence came the type of aurantiirostris. Compared with 

 a series of C. melpomene birchalli from Trinidad, they are less rufes- 

 cent, more olivaceous above and on the wings. There is, however, 

 considerable variation in the color of the tail, which in some individ- 

 uuals is fully as rufescent as in birchalli. The dusky streaking on the 

 throat is well pronounced in some skins, but scarcely evident in others. 

 The form is sufficiently distinct, although only subspecifically sepa- 

 rable, from C. melpomene costaricensis Hellmayr. 



This species is a rare bird around the San Lorenzo, where it is 

 found between 3,500 and 5,000 feet, frequenting dense second-growth 

 in ravines and along the edges of the forest, but not in the midst of the 

 forest itself. It is much more abundant on the north slopes of the 

 Sierra Nevada, where it ranges between 2,000 and 5,000 feet, keeping 

 practically within the confines of the upper Tropical Zone. The con- 

 ditions in this latter region are very favorable to its existence, owing 

 to the prevalence of thick second-growth in the old abandoned cultiva- 

 tions of the Indians. Strange as it may appear, it seems to prefer the 

 vicinity of human habitations, being nowhere so abundant as in the 

 thick brush growing up to the very edge of one side of the village of 

 Pueblo Viejo. Like all of the genus, it is very shy and retiring in its 

 habits, and is rarely seen or heard except in the early morning. The 

 song is very pleasing, consisting of a variety of low sweet notes. The 

 birds never sing in the open, but only when hidden in a thicket, and 

 when approached at such times stop at once and slip noiselessly away. 

 Several were heard at Las Vegas. 



371. Catharus fuscater sanctae-martae Ridgway. 



Catharus fuscater (not Myioturdus fuscater Lafresnaye) Bangs, Proc. Biol. 

 Soc. Washington, XIII, 1899, 108 (Chirua; plum.). — Allen, Bull. Am. Mus. 

 Xat. Hist., XIII, 1900, 183 (El Libano ; plum.). 



